Race two of the new season went better than race one with the exception of a toe I slammed on a bench the night before. I woke up with a swollen bruised, very broken toe. Running funny on a broken toe made my calf stiffen up and made my gait a little crazy.

Photo taken by a friend’s husband shows us all in good spirits!

On May 17, Artboy and I ran the Snohomish Women’s Half, which was not the lovely jog on a waterfront trail I expected. Instead, we ran out and back on some road, and then a couple miles on a lovely waterfront trail. It was a women’s race, but I registered Artboy anyway. He’s got to get the miles in.

We ran with a friend whose husband took the above photo. He didn’t register for the race, but ran us to the 10k turnaround and then met us again a few miles later. He luckily skipped the part of the race at the end where I stopped to stretch my calf and hip and then had to sprint to catch up, which means his camera skipped that part of the race.

After sprinting to catch up, we decided to pass the people in front of us, so we sprinted together. I was okay running, but needed a couple extra walk breaks to loosen my toe, calf, hip, but not bad. I still had steam to keep going–I had expected to walk the last couple miles. The worst part was walking from the finish line to the car. By the time I got home, I felt fine.

Recovery from this race was not as painful as from the Kirkland Mother’s Day Half. It’s Monday and I woke up with my calf is a little tight, so way ahead of last week. My toe is killing me–mostly when it gets licked by a pug. They aren’t usually feet lickers, but they can’t stay away from the broken toe. It will heal okay, hopefully quickly. And I don’t have to wait to Wednesday to walk normal this week. I’ll rest today and then start training tomorrow. Because I haven’t been and I really need to.

Next up is the RnR Full on June 13. Before that, I will be at my friend’s wedding, make a quick stop for a birthday dinner at WDW, and head to San Diego for work. In San Diego, I will also head up to Disneyland with my parents for the 60th anniversary, and hopefully eat at Javier Plascencia’s new restaurant Bracero Cocina de Raiz, as well as a stop at his Bonita restaurant Romesco (which just celebrated its 10th anniversary). I also hope to eat at my friends’ restaurants if I have time. With the marathon looming, this will be a short trip to San Diego and not very boozy.

Finding time to train may be hard, but I’ll put out the longest run I can this weekend and get as many miles in as possible before the RnR. And if I get swept, no big deal as long as I get to run across the 90 bridge. After all, it’s all just training for Marathon du Medoc. This is the base. I don’t need to be at 26 miles happily for another 14 or so weeks. Next part of training involves running with wine…12 weeks of conditioning body, lungs, brain, and liver!